Central Air In The Attic

An attic can get up to about 130 f in the summer and the conditioned air entering the ducts is about 55 f or so.

Central air in the attic.

That means you have higher energy costs and less efficiency since you re blowing the air down instead of allowing it to rise naturally. If you place the furnace in the attic then you must install the infrastructure in the building to force the warm air to the bottom floor. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan. Put it in an attic full of blown insulation and you re forcing.

The 20 to 30 foot long pipes that carry the refrigerant are disguised to look like a downspout. Most updated central air conditioned homes have a new air conditioner split system meaning the ac is broken up into parts. It s contained in a metal box called a plenum and sits on top of your furnace. That size can vary wildly based upon how well insulated the home is.

With hundreds of square feet of ductwork surface area in the attic and a δt of 75 f the air coming out of the vents in your home will be significantly higher than 55 f. Throw duct leakage into the mix and the problems are even worse. So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. This is the piece of your air conditioning system that most people never see.

The condenser in your air conditioner works hard to get rid of heat and pressurize refrigerant for the return trip through your house. If you don t have forced air the fan and coil system is typically placed in the attic where it will deliver cool air through ducts. Cool air in hot air out attic ventilation works on the principle that heated air naturally rises primarily utilizing two types of vents. Well mainly it s a way to save space.

Central air in the attic not sure about the access size but the place to start which should have been done by your contractor before this unit was installed is to determine the correct size. If you have a horizontal furnace in an attic the evaporator coil will sit on one end of the furnace instead of on top.